Friedrich Schleiermacher
modernGerman Idealism, Liberal Protestant Theology, Romantic Philosophy1768 – 1834
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834) was a German Protestant theologian and philosopher widely regarded as the father of modern hermeneutics and liberal theology. He sought to reconcile Enlightenment rationalism with Romantic sensibility, grounding religion in the individual's feeling of absolute dependence rather than doctrine or metaphysics. His systematic theology and hermeneutical theory shaped both Protestant thought and the methodology of the human sciences for centuries.
Notable Achievements
1
Founded modern hermeneutics as a general philosophical discipline applicable across all texts
2
Redefined religion as rooted in the 'feeling of absolute dependence' (schlechthinnige Abhängigkeit), bypassing both rationalism and supernaturalism
3
Authored 'The Christian Faith' (1821–22), the landmark systematic theology of liberal Protestantism
4
Wrote 'On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers' (1799), defending religion to Enlightenment skeptics
5
Co-founded the University of Berlin (1810) and translated Plato's dialogues into German